October 31, 2005

And Now What?

Posted by Kitty Felde

We're talking about the departure of Paul DePodesta today on TOTC. It was less than a month ago that we had the (now former) Dodger General Manager in studio. (And by the way, I owe my producers a lunch for landing the interview!)

Personally, I'd welcome the return of the scrappy, loveable Bobby Valentine to the Dodgers. I've always been a big fan of him on the field and in the dugout. And had the Dodgers not traded him to the Angels, he never would have caught his spikes in that awful fence and broken his leg in a hundred ways and ended his playing career. So coming back to the team closes the circle.

October 22, 2005

Houston in 7

Posted by Andrew Torres

I just had to get this in before the first game of the 2005 World Series started.

Why? Well, though I didn't post it here, I had the Angels and the Astros going to the World Series. And I would like to see a 7-game series with the possibility of Roger Clemens getting three starts to take the trophy home to Houston. And the Astros are a gritty team, not unlike the Angels of 2002, and not unlike their opponents in this series, although the White Sox have the ability of getting the long ball out of their 2-spot in the lineup as well as 7, 8 and 9, or at least in those games played in Chicago.

It will be interesting to see how White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen manages his lineup in the games in Houston. He's not so far removed from his days in Florida that he has forgotten how to deploy the National League kind of strategy, but it does likely put Carl Everett's dangerous bat on the bench, and in a tight game it could force him to remove his starting pitcher from a game, which is something he hasn't had to think about for a week.

I believe that the Chicago relief pitchers will show signs of rust at first, but they'll be in the fray and effective in short order. And I predict that either Roger Clemens or Roy Oswalt will be named the World Series MVP.

October 21, 2005

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over 'Til It's Over

Okay, it's over for the Angels and the Dodgers, but this will be a World Series worth watching, unlike last year's which looked like a good matchup on paper and ended in a Red Sox sweep.

And the off-season maneuvering promises to be interesting. Who wants to be the next Dodger manager? Will Manny and Johnny stay in Boston? Who will keep Joe company on the bench in Yankee Stadium? Does Brian Cashman finally escape the Evil Empire and find a less stressful job? Will a minority get hired to fill any of the prominent front office or bench openings?

Most important of all, who else out there thinks that Leo Mazzone leaving the Atlanta Braves for the Baltimore Orioles will be the most significant off-season move of the winter? While I'm sure that the Braves will find a suitable pitching coach to sit and rock next to Bobby Cox, I wonder if this will be the end at last to that sensational run of playoff appearances and division championships, the departure of the best pitching coach in all of baseball. This move alone may give Baltimore a leg up on signing Kevin Millwood, who is no longer the major talent he was when he first was traded from Atlanta to Philadelphia, but whose veteran presence made a difference to a young Cleveland Indians pitching staff. Rock on, Leo.

October 15, 2005

Right Where They Want Them

Posted by Andrew Torres

A sweep at home was a reach for the Angels. The Chicago White Sox put together the best road record in the major leagues this season, so if there was any surprise that they took one of the three games in Anaheim this weekend, it is that the one win came against the Angels' best remaining starter, John Lackey. Tonight's contest sees the Angels facing an old nemesis, Freddy Garcia, who has a career mark of 11-3 against the Halos, including a 6-1 record in Anaheim.

Los Angeles will send Ervin Santana to the hill in a situation that has become something of a weekly event for the rookie right-hander-- pitching the biggest game of his young career. Santana, who went 5-2 with a 4.06 ERA over the last month of the regular season, has compiled a 9-3 record at home, including a shutout of the White Sox way back in May, limiting opponents to a .233 batting average over 14 starts at Angels Stadium.

If this game were being played on the road, there would be good reason to be nervous, but I have a feeling that Santana will come up with a big game today-- seven innings, two runs or less-- before handing it off to the bullpen. The bigger question of where the Angels are going to find some offense might come from making minor adjustments, like starting Josť Molina, 7 for 15 against Garcia in his career and the Angels' best defensive catcher, and using Bengie Molina as the DH.

Mike Scioscia might also consider starting Jeff DaVanon in centerfield to give the Angels a hitter who has a more patient approach at the plate. But my hunch tells me that Vladimir Guerrero will finally make his presence felt in the postseason, and Santana's performance will energize the Angels to a win tonight and a big shift in the momentum of this series.

October 13, 2005

That Call

Posted by Kitty Felde

As awful as the umpiring was last night, there was one thing to admire: the careful restraint shown by Mike Scioscia. I watched him hustle out from the dugout to talk to the umpires and expected at any moment that he would explode in anger. But no. Long conversations. Careful reasoning. His anger was carefully kept in check.

What a great role model. We, too, should remember that life is a seven game series and one bad call does not mean the end of western civilization as we know it.

October 12, 2005

Slow News Day

Posted by Andrew Torres

There's not much to add to everything that has happened with the Angels in the past 26 hours. Well, there is this item from the Arizona Fall League.

And while the highest-paid starting pitchers for the Angels (Colon and Washburn) were non-factors in the series, you have to wonder if George Steinbrenner will stay awake at night cursing the $60 million he spent on a starting rotation of Johnson, Mussina, Brown, Pavano and Wright that produced one win in the 2005 postseason.

October 10, 2005

Game Five

Posted by Andrew Torres

Which is more annoying? The misinformed national coverage that the Angels receive, or the inferiority complex that afflicts Angel fans?

As the Angels were giving up the lead to the Yankees in game four, Thom Brennaman, whose day job is as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks broadcasting team, referred to the "vaunted" Angels bullpen as the best in the American League. I suppose if Brennaman had not been spending so much time in the National League, he would have known that the Cleveland Indians, and not the Angels, had the best bullpen in the American League over the course of the regular season. And he would have been aware of the fact that the LA of A bullpen had only recently resembled its old self, and only because Kelvim Escobar had moved into the main setup role, moving Scot Shields down into Brendan Donnelly's old slot, and pushing Donnelly into limbo, where he belonged following a shaky post-all-star performance (3.95 ERA, .286 opponent's batting average, 1.50 walks+hits per inning pitched).

I guess when an announcer from Arizona can't stay up late enough to watch your games, it's asking too much from anybody east of the Mississippi to have a clue about your team.

October 3, 2005

Playoff Predictions

Posted by Kevin O'Leary

The playoffs for both leagues are set and what a wild finish it was to get there with both the Red Sox and the Astros clinching wild card berths on the last day of the season. Don't know about anyone else, but I was hoping for 1 Game Playoffs between the Astros & Phillies and Red Sox & Indians to decide it. Oh well, here we are, so I though it would be a good time to post my predictions as to which teams will prevail in each series enroute to the World Series and which team will hoist the trophy as '05 Champions.

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The Contributors

Kitty Felde is the host of KPCC's Talk of the City.

Ethan Lindsey is originally from Eugene, Ore., but has moved around almost every two years since the age of 15. Despite his roots in the Pacific Northwest, he is not a Seattle Mariners fan - although he did see many a game at the cement warehouse known as the Kingdome. In school at Cal, Lindsey covered the baseball team for The Daily Californian, getting to know star Golden Bear shortstop Xavier Nady, now a starting outfielder for the San Diego Padres.

An Atlanta Braves fan for many years, Kevin O'Leary has lived in Los Angeles since 1996. Although the Braves are still his team of choice, he roots for the Dodgers due to their close proximity and watches just about any game that's on the TV. When the season is over, you can find him watching Dominican and Mexican League baseball while looking at the calendar to see how many days remain before 'pitchers and catchers report'. A new father, Kevin, and his beautiful wife, Diana, enjoy spending
time with their 9 month old daughter, Kaleigh. When not chasing Kaleigh around, Kevin stays busy with his television commercial production company called, appropriately, Bottom of the 9th Productions.

Nick Roman is the senior news editor of KPCC.

Andrew Torres has lived his entire life in Southern California, has rooted for the Angels since the days of Albie Pearson and Dean Chance, and is one of the few, the proud, the dispossessed fans of the Montreal Expos. For the past 24 years, he has occupied his waking hours away from his family as an editor of closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. His all-time favorite baseball players are Rusty Staub and Nolan Ryan.